MJ

What were you doing last Friday when you heard that Michael Jackson was dead?

I first heard/read about it on Facebook, that Friday morning. It didn't occur to me to watch CNN to know more details about it. I guess my mind wasn't clear because of the meds I was taking. Anyhoo, after taking a nap that afternoon I tuned in to CNN and Fox News and got my dose of news about what happened to the King of Pop. I'm not really a fan but Michael Jackson is MICHAEL JACKSON. Being born in the 80's, I grew up to his music. Later that night, the hubby and I watched the specials on Channel [V]. His videos are awesome and he did revolutionize music videos in the 80's with Thriller and Bad. They were mini-movies not just music videos.

May he rest in peace.

I Didn't Win

..the Maybelline goodies. But Frances is giving away gift certificates from Aesthetic Science Clinic in her beauty blog. I hope I win this time.

Go visit Beauty for a Living and enter the contest!

Swine Flu

I'm back to work after three days of getting sick last week. Good thing I was up and about by Saturday all though I still have a nasty, nasty cough. So what did I do while I was sick? Aside from panicking and worrying that it might be swine flu (nope I didn't get it..thank God!):

- slept all day
- played solitaire on my phone
- finally finished Twilight (the book - might have to do a separate post on my oh-so-late review)

Boring noh?

Vettel and Fez

Last Sunday was a happy day. Not only was it Father's day, it was also the day Vettel won his 2nd race for this season of F1. I was already happy when he placed first during qualifying. But a bit doubtful because last race he was also P1 during qualifying but Button was able to snag first place. It turned out to be a good thing that Button placed only 6th during qualifying and Barrichello was the one on first row with Vettel. He seemd to breeze throughout the 60 laps but I was bit nervous pa rin all throughout the race. What if he makes a mistake again or what if he met an accident. And what was he thinking when he overlapped the last placers (I think it was Alonso and a BMW Sauber car) like that. they (the other drivers) were racing against each other and he was just like hello there! I'm passing through hahaha. Even the commentators thought it was a Toro Rosso car racing with the others, and it turned out to be Vettel.

And what a race for Massa! He was 11th after the qualifying but he placed 4th on race day. Both hubby and I were happy with the outcome of this last race. But I wished he would have placed 3rd instead of Barrichello because I wanted to hear him speak during the post-race press conference. See, during the pre-show for the race, he was shown in an interview about all these FIA-FOTA fiasco. And when I heard him speak he reminded me of Fez from That 70's Show. It cracked me up.




They don't look alike but they sound alike hehe.

Funny Father

In any weddings, one of the highlights of the reception is the speech of the father of the bride. Our wedding was no exception. Papa's speech was so witty and funny. Our friends couldn't stop talking about his speech. He said, "Nung unang pinakilala ni Maricris si Joema sa amin, ang una kong naisip 'ano kayang nagustuhan ng anak ko sa payatot na 'to?'" ahahahaha Everyone was just laughing! Look at our expressions (click photo to enlarge)!


Pa, belated happy father's day and happy happy birthday to you! Thanks for everything!

Monday Morning Surprise

Don't you love it when you accidentally bump into something really nice early in the morning..and on a Monday at that?

To celebrate her blog's 3rd anniversary, Frances is giving away prizes! She's giving away Maybelline products. I know I haven't won yet but still it gets me really excited to think I could win those prizes! I wish I was the only one who joined and won the loot (heehee selfish me!) but what's the fun in that..so go ahead and go to her blog and join her contest!

Being Online

Yza asked about what other people do with the different social networking sites. And I answered her that I don't really use Friendster that much unless someone messages me or sometimes I use it to greet other people happy birthday. Then Multiply is where I keep all my photos cause I like how you can control who are the people who gets to see your photos. Then Facebook I don't really get to update much but I use it to keep me updated with what's happening with my friends and also for the games like Pet Society and Word Challenge. Don't you just love playing online? Especially when you can play with your friends? I bumped into a site where you can play multiplayer games,8c1.net.http://www.8c1.net. It's free and you can play with your friends there. I have yet to cave in to Twitter or Plurk because…well, I don't know. My thinking is I don't think people will want to know what I'm doing everyday. I don't think people will follow me there.

So how about you? How many sites/online accounts do you keep?

Just A Thought

During these times of recession and financial crisis, it got me thinking on how we could earn extra money. If I had money, I would probably invest in real property. Especially now that a lot condominiums are sprouting all over the metro. I would buy several units and have them rented out. My main market would be the yuppies especially in Makati and Ortigas areas or even newly wedded couples like ourselves. I wonder if I have to undergo some classes or seminars on Real Property Management or just hire someone who is in the know to manage our properties. Wow that sounds so good...OUR PROPERTIES! Universe, give it to momma!

Kenneth Cobonpue

The nearest thing to owning a Cobonpue is seating on one even if it was just for a short time hehehe.












Microtel Mactan is not included in the projects listed in Cobonpue's site but Ms. Daphne Osena Paez did confirm they were Cobonpue.

Chillin' in Cebu

What do you do on your last day of vacation?













Just chill and relax! Ahhh…this is the life!!!

Bohol Day Tour

Our second day in Cebu started really early with our encounter with the taxi driver. But eventually another taxi brought us to the pier for P300. The check-in for the ferry was easy breezy. We presented our tickets, they checked our bags, we lined up for the seat assignments and then waited for boarding. Within a few minutes they ushered us inside the ferry.

Bangag ever ang itsura namin. We were all puyat as we slept a little bit late the night before and then woke up early on our second day to catch the first ferry out of Cebu to Tagbilaran. The travel time between the two cities is around 2 hours. We arrived in Tagbilaran a few minutes past 8am. I texted Spencer our tourguide and after just a few minutes he was there at the pier to pick us up. Side kwento about Spencer, I actually knew about him because during our wedding preps, our videographer Bim went to Bohol with his friends and I remember Bim telling me that they really enjoyed their tour of Bohol because of Spencer. So when Joy asked me to schedule a Bohol daytrip, I immediately browsed Bim's site for the link to Spencer's site. But the link is already down so I just googled his name and found his new site. I emailed him Monday night before our trip, he had a reply the very next day. He was really helpful and accommodating. I would text him something and he would immediately call to answer my concerns. So anyway, before we started the tour we asked Spencer to bring us to Mcdo so we can order our breakfast. Right after we ordered, our tour began. Spencer begain explaining things about Tagbilaran and started pointing out relevant places to us.

First on the list is the Blood Compact Monument. The blood compact is between Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and Rajah Sikatuna. That person on the leftmost is Rajah Sikatuna. He's wearing a Spanish garb gifted to him by Legaspi.

On the way to Chocolate Hills, we passed thru the man-made forest.

To get a perfect view of the hills, you have to go up the 200++ steps to the viewing deck.

It was so hot while we were there but we endured the heat to get perfect pictures with Chocolate Hills. Isn't that amazing?

I always wondered how some people get their jump shots at the Chocolate Hills. Apparently, locals have done this as their little business. They have set up a large tarpaulin there with the Chocolate Hills printed on it and they ask people to have their pictures taken with the tarp and then they photoshop it. We didn't have to buy our pictures and all our pictures with the Chocolate Hills are authentic hehe. We bought some souvenir shirts when we got down and then waited for Spencer to pick us up.

He next brought us to the butterfly sanctuary. It was the first butterfly sanctuary I visited where there's a tourguide who walked us through the life span of the butterfly. I know we studied that in school but it's still different when you see an actual pupa in front of you.

Me and Kyla holding butterflies.

The sanctuary is a little park with a few huts where you can stay and rest.

Then we went to the hanging bridge which I did not cross! When our van passed by and Spencer was telling us about the bridge, I asked him if he would meet us and pick us up at the other end, he said we had to cross the bridge again and come back where he left us. Yikes! I had this picture taken with them but I did not cross. You see, I'm afraid of heights. I really am. When my friends and I went to Ilocos a few years back and went to Cape Bojeador, all of them wanted to go up the lighthouse. So I went up with them, that was a bit easy because I didn't have to look down. But going down was a different story. While going down the spiral stairs, I can see how high up we were through the metal slits and that got me. When we finally reached the bottom, I started crying. Anyway, back to Bohol I wasn't about to relive that experience so I told them I have to stay. I did not want to cry in the middle of that bridge. I can already feel my eyes welling up while we were having our picture taken and we weren't even at the middle of the bridge.


This is the man they met across the bridge - the Buko King. He peeled that coconut using his teeth in only 15 seconds, I think. You have to pay P100 to see him do that. But they said it was worth it.

Next on our "what-to-see" in Bohol is of course the tarsier. Did you know that tarsiers are suicidal? They easily get deprressed and when they do, they kill themselves. The bump their head repeatedly until they die. A little anecdote, during the trip every time we get in the van and travel from one spot to another, Joy dozes off. And you know how it is when you sleep and you're not lying down, your head tend to just bob up and down. That's what happens to her and she usually hits her head at the window of the van. So we tell her "Depress ka ba? nagpapaka-tarsier ka na naman jan!" LOL

We were all so hungry when we got to the floating restaurant for our very late lunch. Spencer told us that there were actually 2 cruises along Loboc River. The first one is at the other end of the river were the "finale" is the small falls (that's were we ate the first time I was there) and the second one is where he brought us, and the finale is the Ati Tribe. He said the food is better where he'll bring us and I have to agree. Everything was delicious! They even served crabs and shrimps! Yummy! And no it wasn't just because we were hungry, the food was really delicious.

We were allowed to get down the boat to interact with the Ati Tribe. All of them have different gimiks to catch your attention and for photo-op purposes hehe. Here's us captured by one.

And then a group pic with all of them.

The river cruise was a perfect way to recharge before starting the tour again. Our next stop was to visit the python, Prony. Apparently, in that barangay snakes are abundant. Spencer said the locals are even accustomed to waking up with snakes beside them ehehehe.

Here's Marimar. She knows all about Prony. She's like the entertainer for all the guests of Prony.

After Prony, we went to Baclayon Church which is the oldest church in Bohol and the second oldest in the Philippines (next to San Agustin). We visited the museum beside the church. It contained very old things for the church like chalice and santos and even priests' habits inlaid with gold thread.

Joy and I were asked to wear cover-ups before we entered the church.

Spencer then brought us to the souvenir shop before bringing us back to the pier. We had so much fun in Bohol! Our ferry back to Cebu was delayed and we were dead tired when we finally reached Cebu City. We decided to eat dinner at SM and from there we also bought some "supplies". After taking our baths back at the hotel, it's inuman time!

Although we didn't even last an hour. We were all tired and after a few glasses we were all feeling the weight of the whole day. Joy was once again doing here "tarsier head bump" ahahaha. So we decided to call it a night.

More photos of Bohol here.

Of Photos and Videos

Been researching anew for wedding photographers and videographers because I'm helping a friend. On the wedding date they first chose, both Bim and Jayson are no longer available on that date. Tsk! Sayang! She wanted both of them pa naman sana. And then she chose another date because the hotel she wanted was not available on the first date and she was going a bit berserk looking for a good photographer and videographer in less than 6 months. Both Bim and Jayson are available for the second date. They were both so kind to have the date pencilbooked. But alas, they went to see if their feng-shui would be OK with that date, the temple they went to doesn't have a "catalog" for 2010 yet plus the pastor they wanted for their wedding is not available on the second date they chose. So now they are back to looking for a wedding date. And she already asked Jayson and Bim for their available dates in 2010 hehehe. Anyways, it just got me looking thru our wedding photos and video (the onsite) again. Our wedding album is almost almost finish. Just waiting for the revised layout from Jayson. I'm sure even with their newborn baby girl, they will still squeeze in our wedding album. Jo Anne even wants to join shoots for their June weddings already. Jayson and Jo Anne, congratulations again!!! As for our edited videos, I think we still have to wait for a couple of months. But that's okay because I'm sure it will all be worth it. Bim's some kinda perfectionist so I don't think I have to worry a thing. It's a relief to know we didn't have to go through that kind of stress when we were setting our wedding date. And didn't have a glitch looking for a photographer and videographer.

They rock!




Jayson and Jo Anne with their team


Bim and Gen with their team

We're Not Happy

Q: Sebastian, P3 for you. Another great result but from the pole this time sadly no win. But you were leading for a little bit on the first lap.

Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, up to turn nine and ten. It worked out okay at the start. I stayed ahead. Then I nearly lost the car at nine and ten. It was my mistake. I think all race it was difficult there. It was a bit of tail wind and it was extremely difficult, so even on the second lap I nearly lost the car again, so it was quite tricky. But still I think it would not have made a big difference as Jenson was just too quick today, so I think I wouldn’t have been able to hold him anyway. After that I knew my strategy. But we have seen that Jenson was not behind us and we were not opening a gap to him. It was the opposite, so I thought we were switching to two stop. We did not and then obviously in my second stint I was in traffic to Jenson and he was on a heavier fuel load than me. I nearly passed him. There was one chance but it was quite tricky and after that I lost a little bit of time there and it turned out that the three stop possibly was not as quick as two stop today. Nevertheless a good result for the team. I am not happy but I think we can be very satisfied to take second and third and it is getting closer, so that is a good thing.

I was not happy too, Sebastian. Tsk, tsk! It was frustrating to see you go from winning pole and then on race day first lap making that mistake that sent Jenson Button to first place. After that I resigned myself that you would probably be second place. But you had the chance to take over the first place again..you were inching in on button. And then you had to go the pits. But what the heck didn't change your tires to soft compound? Why didn't they change your strategy to have two pit stops? I think you would have a chance to be the winner or even second place if it weren't for that three stop. Haaay! But it was nice seeing you again at the podium albeit your sad face.

Taxi, bay? Do not, bay!

The only disappointment we had on our trip to Cebu is the taxi drivers. They were asking for around P300-P500 from our hotel to Cebu/Mandaue City.

Taxi Encounter No. 1: Before we headed out on our first day, we first asked the front desk how much it will cost us, they said around P200 going to Ayala Mall which is farther than SM. So we decided to just go to SM. We were ecstatic to see a taxi parked just outside our hotel, it was a bit obvious to us that it would be hard to hail a taxi on our part of the island. When we got inside this is how our conversation went like:

Driver: San po ba tayo?
Mek (our friend): Sa Ayala po sana or sa SM…
Driver: Ah naku malayo ang Ayala, mas malayo pa sa SM
Me: Sige po sa SM na lang tayo (kasi nga gutom na kami). Malapit lang po ba yung SM dito?
Driver: Naku malayo din po
Mek: Magkano po aabutin?
Driver: P350 po
Me to Mek: Di ba sabi sa hotel P200 lang?
Driver: Ah yun po ay kung metered yung taxi ninyo
Me: E bat hindi po tayo mag-metro?
Driver: Kasi po may bayad yung parking ko sa labas ng hotel e yada yada yada

Taxi encounter No. 2:
After our city tour, we went back to SM and decided to just get a metered taxi from there. So we lined up on the queue for metered taxi. We got inside and told the driver na sa Mictorel Inn in Mactan. Wala na syang nagawa so dinala kami but after a few minutes he asked "Magkano po ba ang binayad nyo don pagpunta nyo sa SM?" I said "P200 po" but of course the truth is we paid 350-effing-pesos! When we got to our hotel, the taxi meter showed our fare 160 pesos! OMG! We were "robbed" of more than half of that! You know what the driver did when we paid two one-hundred-peso-bills? He did not give us our change and reasoned out that we paid 200 pesos going to SM anyway. Argh!

Taxi encounter No. 3:
The morning of our second day, we were scheduled to go to Bohol so the night before that we asked the front desk of Microtel to call us a cab. We need to be at the pier area by 5:30am, so we requested for a cab at 4:45am the following day. Come our second day, the taxi was there hurrah! So you would think we should be expecting to be pay so much again. Actually yes we were. We were expecting to pay at the most P350going to the pier. Because the port is very near SM, so we figured it will be atleast the same rate, right? Nope we were wrong! The taxi driver wanted us to pay P500! Saying that he was there all night waiting for us to come out and the hotel told him we were going to the airport and not the pier. Leche! Good thing we were still outside the hotel when we asked him for the fare. Hay!

In fairness, when we traveled within Cebu City the taxi drivers did use their meters. But are the taxi drivers really "lugi" if they have their meters running? The taxi drivers in Baguio City will give you the exact change from your fare down to the last centavo. Why can't taxi drivers all over the Philippines do this? Or was it just us who experienced this with the taxi drivers in Cebu? So there for those planning to go to Cebu expect to cough up that much cash when you want to go to Mactan Island from Cebu city and vice versa.

Cebu Day 1

After we checked in our beautiful hotel, we immediately ate breakfast and then went for a swim. Technically the hotel has 3 swimming pools. One infinity pool then beside it is a kiddie pool. The third pool is near the beach which is also a kiddie pool. We had so much FUN!



That's Abaca resort behind us. Very exclusive resort. It's just beside Microtel so we see its gate whenever we go out of our hotel. Their gates are always closed and looked like doors of a bank vault heehee.


Until we got hungry ahehehe. We had to bid the swimming pools and beach farewell for a short while.


So we ventured outside our hotel and headed to SM for CnT Lechon. Our contacts said there's one inside SM but when we asked the guard he said there is also one outside. But since we were already in SM we went inside first. But CnT there was a small stall outside their supermarket. So we went looking for the one outside. After several attempts to get out of SM (I know, we're that lame!), we finally did and got inside CnT Lechon. It's the yellow building just across the street of SM, across the parking lot for the jeepneys. I love Cebu lechon! It's actually different from the lechon that I know with the sarsa. It's crunchy and a little bit salty and you can eat it without the sarsa. Sarap sa kanin! Heehee sorry no photos of our lunch. We were all so hungry we didn't have time to take photos of the lechon. But check out the people waiting in line to order that tasty lechon.



After lunch we decided to go to the pier to get our tickets for the ferry. We're scheduled to go to Bohol the next day and my contact said we should take the Oceanjet Ferry. I was able to research the ferry before our trip so I knew they had a promo like if you buy one day before your trip you can get the tickets in a much much lower price. Our mistake was when we were asking around for the pier we asked where is the pier for the ferry going to Bohol. Stupid mistake because there were a lot of piers and there were a lot of ferries going to Bohol. The locals told us to go to Pier 4 so we went there. When we got there it was Superferry and not Oceanjet. We would have bought tickets from Superferry but their travel times won't fir our schedule. Haay! I tell you this trip is the most un-researched trip I had. We booked our plane tickets and hotel a week before the trip and I really had not time to research on anything. That little detail (of what pier to go to) would have saved us time and effort. Anyway, those little mistakes make traveling interesting right? We asked around again and now asked where Oceanjet is. And they told us to go to Pier 1. We finally arrived there and bought our tickets. And the promo, we weren't able to avail it because the promo was about to start May 25 and we were there on the 24th ahahaha! If you bought tickets on the 25th you get to pay only P500 if you travel on the 26th. There was no way the lady in charge would have given us that rate even if we were traveling on the 25th. So we paid for P800 plus P20 for the terminal fee each for the roundtrip tickets. A different rate for children.

We wanted to got o Magellan's Cross after that. Some local said it was just walking distance from there so we walked but we bumped into Fort San Pedro instead of Magellan's Cross. There's an entrance fee to Fort San Pedro. I can't remember how much but it's below P20.



It's a small place. Not really much to see. The museum inside the fort was closed when we were there (they are closed on Sundays). This is on top of one of the walls. You can see the people outside the fort just relaxing, it's sort of a park outside.



It was so hot that we rode a taxi from Fort San Pedro to Magellan's Cross. But they're really just one or two blocks away from each other. You can walk going to the other. There are a lot of old ladies selling candles inside. We had a hard time taking our group photo.



And then we passed by Basilica de Sto Nino. There were a lot of people attending the mass.

When we got back to the hotel, we had time to nap and refresh before going out again for dinner. We went to one of the sutukil restaurants near Lapu-lapu shrine. There was another lady there buying crabs and said it was more expensive than the prices in Metro manila. I wouldn't really know because I don't buy seafood from the market. Mek said it was almost the same price as Dampa. We were disappointed with the shrimp but liked the way they cooked their crab.



The staff in that restaurant is kinda slow, we waited so long for our bill to arrive when in fact a waitress was already holding it but she was just standing there a few tables from us. Haay!

After a long day, we were finally back at the hotel and watched the Monaco race.

More photos of our first day here.